Harrisburg incinerator

On December 22, 1969, construction began on a Harrisburg incinerator at a cost of $15 million. The trash-to-steam incinerator was completed in 1972.[1] Over the course of the next three decades, numerous problems arose with the incinerator which would lead the city of Harrisburg to file for bankruptcy in 2011 after debts accumulated of up to $400 million accrued mostly as a result of the incinerator.[2]

Harrisburg Incinerator
CountryUnited States
LocationHarrisburg, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40.244055°N 76.853882°W / 40.244055; -76.853882
StatusDecommissioned
Commission date1972
Decommission date2003
Thermal power station
Primary fuelWaste

Harrisburg's incinerator dioxin

For the three decades it was running, the incinerator was the "highest emitter of dioxin in the country" according to Jim Topsale, a municipal waste combustion expert for the EPA.[3] Dioxins are very toxic and according to the World Health Organization, they can cause "reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer."[4] Eric Epstein, an environmental activist, accused the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection of environmental racism because the incinerator was located near two low-income housing projects which had a high minority population.[3]

2000 Dioxin Arctic Study

In September 2000, a study published by the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation (NACEC), lead by Dr. Barry Commoner, found that Inuit women in the Arctic in Nunavut, Canada were found to have high levels of dioxin in their breast milk.[5] The study tracked the origin of the dioxins using computer models from the sources that produced it and found that the dioxin pollution in the Arctic originated from the United States.[6] Out of 44,000 sources of dioxin polluters in the United States, they found that only 19 were contributing to greater than a third of the dioxin pollution in Nunavut. Out of these 19, Harrisburg's incinerator was the #1 source of dioxin pollution in the Arctic. [7][8][6]

References
  1. Cooper, Michael. "An Incinerator Becomes Harrisburg's Money Pit". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  2. TAVERNISE, SABRINA. "City Council in Harrisburg Files Petition of Bankruptcy". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  3. Lenton, Garry (August 17, 1997). "City plant's dioxin levels up since '94". The Patriot-News.
  4. "Dioxins and their effects on human health". World Health Organization. October 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
  5. Lucas, Anne E. Lucas (2004). Rachel Stein (ed.). New Perspectives on Environmental Justice: Gender, Sexuality, and Activism. Rutgers University Press. p. 191.
  6. Hilts, Philip (October 17, 2000). "Dioxin in Arctic Circle Is Traced to Sources Far to the South". The New York Times. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
  7. Commoner, Barry; et al. "Long-range Air Transport of Dioxin from North American Sources to Ecologically Vulnerable Receptors in Nunavut, Arctic Canada" (PDF). Commission for Environmental Cooperation. p. 83. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  8. Capozza, Korey (June 6, 2009). "U.S. Hazardous to Health?". International Reporting Project. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
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